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Honky Tonk Man
Originally pushed as a face wrestler with an Elvis impersonator gimmick, Honky soon cut a series of promos that aired on the WWE's syndicated programming asking fans for a "vote of confidence." The results came back negative, and it was not long before Honky became a cocky heel and took on Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart as his manager. Hart was billed as "The Colonel" for Honky's matches, a reference to Col. Tom Parker. Honky's first major feud came against Jake "the Snake" Roberts, who was in the midst of a face turn. The feud intensified when Honky attacked Roberts on his talk show set, The Snake Pit. According to Roberts, Farris was supposed to hit him with a gimmicked balsa wood guitar. Roberts believes Farris accidentally grabbed a real, non-gimmicked guitar and smashed it across Roberts' back, injuring him, and starting him on his dependence of prescription pain medication. However in an interview for World Wrestling Insanity, the Honky Tonk Man disputed Roberts' assertion saying "That's not true and, in fact I attribute most of that to Mick Foley, who wrote about it in his book, and Jake, who lied about it." During the feud, at WrestleMania III, Honky grabbed the ring ropes to score a tainted win; afterward, Roberts cleared the ring of Honky before he and Alice Cooper attacked Hart with Roberts' python, Damien. During a television taping on June 2, 1987 in Buffalo, New York, Honky replaced an absent Butch Reed in upsetting Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat and winning the WWF Intercontinental Championship; Honky reversed Steamboat's inside cradle and grabbed onto the bottom ropes for extra leverage to get the pin. An interesting sidenote: Honky was chosen to take the title off of Steamboat, so he could then drop it quickly to Jake Roberts. But with Roberts still suffering the intermittant effects of the guitar shot Honky delivered on The Snake Pit, it was decided to leave the title on Honky, allowing him to continue what would become a record setting run as IC Champion. Honky quickly adopted a cowardly heel persona, often getting himself counted out or disqualified on purpose against challengers such as Steamboat, Billy Jack Haynes, Bruno Sammartino, and George "The Animal" Steele, as titles cannot be lost by these methods. Also during this time, Honky began using the entrance theme entitled "Honky Tonk Man," a 50s-styled, narcissistic-themed song (with the hook line, "I'm cool, I'm cocky, I'm bad") performed by Farris and included on Piledriver - The Wrestling Album 2, the WWF's second album of wrestling themes. By September 1987, Savage was in the midst of a face turn and began challenging Honky for the Intercontinental title (after Honky had made comments about himself being "the greatest Intercontinental champion of all time" and disparaging comments about former champions, particularly Savage). Although they had several matches beforehand — they had also met in 1986, when the then-heel Savage was champion and challenged by the face Honky — the first Savage-Honky match to air on national television was on the October 3, 1987 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, which was taped on September 23 in Hershey, Pennsylvania. During that match, Savage nearly defeated Honky until Honky's allies, the Hart Foundation (who had interfered throughout the match), ran into the ring and brutally attacked Savage, getting Honky disqualified. Savage's valet, Miss Elizabeth, attempted to stop the carnage but Honky shoved her down and she fled to the locker room; meanwhile, Honky completed his attempt to break his guitar over Savage's head. Shortly thereafter, Elizabeth returned with Savage's former rival, Hulk Hogan, who aided Savage in running off the heels (leading to the formation of The Mega Powers). Honky continued his bitter feud against Savage. Frequently, Honky would make advances toward Elizabeth — including one such incident at the 1987 Slammy Awards — to agitate his challenger. Honky retained the title in matches with Savage and Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake, Honky's next major rival. During the Beefcake-Honky feud - which began at WrestleMania IV and continued during the spring and summer of 1988 - Honky vowed not to let Beefcake cut his ducktail hair, something Beefcake often said he would do in promos. In their matches, Honky was often seconded by a mysterious woman named Peggy Sue; while Sherri Martel sometimes played the role, more often than not, "Peggy Sue" was Hart dressed in drag. Beefcake countered with a "woman" of his own: "Georgina" (Steele in drag). At the inaugural SummerSlam, The Ultimate Warrior needed just 32 seconds to pin Honky to claim the Intercontinental Championship. Honky had been scheduled to face Beefcake for the title at SummerSlam, but Beefcake fell victim to "Outlaw" Ron Bass' sneak attack at a WWE Superstars of Wrestling taping (aired the weekend before the event), when in actuality, Beefcake was sidelined by an injury and was unable to compete. Honky, now thinking he was without an opponent, brazenly issued an open challenge to any wrestler for the title. His confidence disappeared when the Ultimate Warrior's entrance music began to play. Honky had been the champion for one year, two months and 27 days, a record that still stands today. Honky was unsuccessful in his bid to reclaim the title, although the rematch lasted much longer then the original one. In 1989, Honky began a feud against "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, but came up short. His last major push came in late 1989 and 1990, when he and Greg Valentine wrestled as the tag team Rhythm and Blues, competing against such teams as the Hart Foundation and The Legion of Doom. Rhythm & Blues were part of Ted DiBiase's "Million Dollar Team" along with his "mystery" partner, the debuting Undertaker, to compete against Rhodes' "Dream Team" of the Hart Foundation and Koko B. Ware at the 1990 Survivor Series. Honky wrapped up his WWE career with a stint as a pro-heel color commentator alongside Vince McMahon and Roddy Piper on Superstars of Wrestling. In 1994, Honky was working for World Championship Wrestling and was challenging Johnny B. Badd for the WCW World Television Championship when he left due to a dispute with management. In his book "Controversy Creates Cash", Eric Bischoff stated that his favorite firing was that of the Honky Tonk Man. Honky has responded by saying that it was an honor as Bischoff had fired a number of people while in WCW. After a brief stint in the American Wrestling Federation, Honky resurfaced in the WWE in 1997 as a color commentator on Raw is War and then as the manager of Billy Gunn, who had started a singles run. Under Honky's tutelage, Gunn became known as "Rockabilly," which was a short-lived and unsuccessful gimmick. Honky then made an appearance in the 1998 Royal Rumble event. The Honky Tonk Man returned to the WWE for a one-time appearance at 2001 Royal Rumble, but was quickly eliminated by Kane after being hit on the head with his guitar. In 2008, Santino Marella announced his intention to break Honky Tonk Man's record for longest Intercontinental Championship reign, usually displaying a special "Honk-a-meter" comparing Honky Tonk Man's 64-week record with the length of his own reign at the time. On the October 6, 2008 edition of Raw, the Honky Tonk Man, along with Goldust and Roddy Piper, was named as one of the possible opponents for Marella's Intercontinental Championship at Cyber Sunday. He was voted in with 35% of the vote; despite concern that his finger injury might need surgery, he did appear, winning the match by disqualification (thus failing to win the title). This was the first time that he wrestled as a face in the WWE (WWF) since he first joined it in 1986. After the match had ended, Goldust and Piper came down to the ring and, along with Honky, attacked Marella. Afterward, the three legends celebrated in the ring and shared a laugh, brought on by the Honky Tonk Man's celebratory dance, which came to an abrupt halt due to his slipping on Goldust's wig. On the October 27 edition of Raw, The Honky Tonk Man appeared as a special guest commentator. After an impersonation of Marella's on-screen girlfriend, Beth Phoenix, Charlie Haas was knocked into the announcer table, and Santino attacked Honky Tonk Man, prompting Piper and Goldust to block Marella's escape from the ring. Upon Goldust's entry to the ring, Marella turned around to be smashed over the head by Honky Tonk Man's guitar. The Honky Tonk Man inducted Koko B. Ware into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 4, 2009.